Astronomers have discovered enormous smooth shapes that look like vapour trails in a gigantic galaxy cluster. These ‘arms’ span half a million light years and provide researchers with clues to a billion years of collisions within the “giant cosmic train wreck” of the Coma cluster.

Astronomers working with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have seen the giant black hole Sagittarius A* rejecting its ‘food’ of vast gas clouds as they aren’t sufficiently cool enough for it to swallow.

Once only science fiction, astronomers are now finding hundreds of planetary systems beyond our own. Given recent discoveries through space exploration, it is entirely feasible that we may soon discover the existence of extra-terrestrial life forms on other planets.

To mark the annual International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer (Ozone Day), Dr Neil Harris, an expert on the atmospheric composition from the University’s Department of Chemistry, discusses why research into this issue is as important as ever.